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Melanie Johnson & Jenn Foster owners of Elite Online Publishing, interview Krister Ungerböck about his book 22 Talk SHIFTS: Tools to Transform Leadership in Business, in Partnership, and in Life. #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author, battle-tested CEO, and leadership language expert Krister Ungerboeck has developed the highly effective Talk SHIFT™ System – simple changes and adjustments that elevate communication, morale, performance, and growth. People who embrace the Talk SHIFT System enjoy better relationships, at work and at home, faster growth, stronger competitive advantage, and an overall boost in performance. In addition to boosting business performance, Krister is leading a revolution in the way we communicate in order to improve marriages, families, and communities.
Wall Street Journal #1 bestselling author, battle-tested CEO, and leadership language expert Krister Ungerboeck has developed the highly effective TalkSHIFT System(tm) – simple changes and adjustments that elevate communication, morale, performance, and growth.
After successfully launching his career at Booz-Allen & Hamilton strategy consulting firm, Krister’s father tapped him on the shoulder and asked him to move back to St. Louis to apply his knowledge and experiences to help the family business. Ungerboeck Software had just celebrated its 12th anniversary and needed some fresh ideas and new leadership techniques. Within 3 years, Krister had helped turn around the 14 person business and grow revenue 250%. Over the course of the next 20 years, Krister and the capable team at Ungerboeck Software grew the company over 3,000%. The team added customers in over 50 countries served out of offices in St Louis, UK, Germany, France, Australia, Hong Kong and China. During his time as CEO, the company won 5 consecutive Top Workplace awards and had employee turnover 50% lower than the industry average. From 2001 – 2007, Krister moved to France and Germany to drive growth in Europe and the Middle East (EMEA). During that period, EMEA accounted for nearly 75% of the company’s revenue growth. In 2016, Krister executed a unique exit strategy that involved retaining 100% family ownership, while passing the torch to an exceptional non-family team that he personally recruited in 2014 and 2015. As part of the leadership transition, he formed a Board of Directors and recruited external Directors, a new CEO and VP Finance to guide the company going forward. Ungerboeck Software continues on to great success under non-family leadership as one of a handful of large, 100% family-owned software companies in the US. Favorite Success Quote “What got you here won’t get you there.”~Marshall Goldsmith Key Points 1. What Gets You Here Won’t Get You There One of the most common (yet foolish) assumptions in leadership and management is that “What got me here will get me there”. Or, in other words, what it took to get your company to $1,000,000 is the same thing that it will take to get your company to $10,000,000 or $20,000,000 or more. But nothing could be further from the truth. In order to growth hack, or rapidly accelerate the success of your business, you must be willing to take new approaches, create new positions, hire new managers, and even reduce your personal paycheck for a short amount of time. Growing a company takes sacrifice. You will have to delegate tasks you would rather do yourself, hire employees who you might believe unnecessary, and methodically remove yourself from the minutia that once demanded so much of your time. So be prepared. Rapid growth is achievable and it is a helluva ride. But it is also one of the hardest things you will ever do. 2. Understand the Importance of Positive Feedback Many of the leaders that I know come from homes where positive reinforcements were either absent or unnecessary. They were either the student with overbearing parents who burdened them with unachievable expectations, or they were the star football player, straight-A student, and Student Body President who knew they were killing it and didn’t need any reminders. And when you are raised in either of these environments, you find that positive reinforcement and signs of approval and satisfaction are rare. And since positivity was a rare commodity during childhood, these individuals tend to carry this trend with them into the board room. This is when things start to get messy. If you are trying to build a company, you must realize that a company is made up of individuals, many of whom will be like you. However, the vast majority of the people that you hire will come from wildly different backgrounds than your own, with wildly different needs and expectations. And this is great! You want to be surrounded by a diverse group of minds and ideas who can attack challenges and obstacles from angles that you didn’t even know existed. However, when you are unable to tailor your leadership style, particularly your ability to give positive reinforcement to employees, is when you will start to fail as a CEO or president. You might not need positive affirmation, but your employees do. You might thrive on criticism and challenge, but many of your employees don’t. And you need to be aware of this. Learning to positively reinforce underperforming employees is possibly one of the most difficult but rewarding skills that you can master. And the sooner you can do it, the sooner you will elicit massive growth. From your employees, your company, and best of all, yourself. 3. You’re Not That Smart I hate to burst your bubble, but you are not that smart. I don’t care who you are, what degree you have, or how many accolades current adorn your home dresser. You are not that smart… Period. I don’t mean that you have a low IQ or that you aren’t incredibly well versed in your craft, I simply mean that you are not smart enough to handle the vast demands required to grow a company to the 7, 8, or 9 figure range by yourself. You need people in your corner who are smarter and better than you at what they do. Sure, you might be an amazing product engineer, marketer, or leader, but can you set up all of the necessary servers in your IT department? Can you run the HR department by yourself? Can you specifically target your Facebook advertising to maximize your ROI while drastically cutting your budget? If you can, then I want to take my hat off and applaud you… Because you are some sort of superhuman. But if you are like the rest of us, then you will quickly realize that you cannot create massive growth by yourself. You need people who are smarter than you, better than you, and hungrier than you who can meld into your brand and mission and help you accomplish your goals in record time.
After successfully launching his career at Booz-Allen & Hamilton strategy consulting firm, Krister’s father tapped him on the shoulder and asked him to move back to St. Louis to apply his knowledge and experiences to help the family business. Ungerboeck Software had just celebrated its 12th anniversary and needed some fresh ideas and new leadership techniques. Within 3 years, Krister had helped turn around the 14 person business and grow revenue 250%. Over the course of the next 20 years, Krister and the capable team at Ungerboeck Software grew the company over 3,000%. The team added customers in over 50 countries served out of offices in St Louis, UK, Germany, France, Australia, Hong Kong and China. During his time as CEO, the company won 5 consecutive Top Workplace awards and had employee turnover 50% lower than the industry average. From 2001 – 2007, Krister moved to France and Germany to drive growth in Europe and the Middle East (EMEA). During that period, EMEA accounted for nearly 75% of the company’s revenue growth. In 2016, Krister executed a unique exit strategy that involved retaining 100% family ownership, while passing the torch to an exceptional non-family team that he personally recruited in 2014 and 2015. As part of the leadership transition, he formed a Board of Directors and recruited external Directors, a new CEO and VP Finance to guide the company going forward. Ungerboeck Software continues on to great success under non-family leadership as one of a handful of large, 100% family-owned software companies in the US. Favorite Success Quote “What got you here won’t get you there.”~Marshall Goldsmith Key Points 1. What Gets You Here Won’t Get You There One of the most common (yet foolish) assumptions in leadership and management is that “What got me here will get me there”. Or, in other words, what it took to get your company to $1,000,000 is the same thing that it will take to get your company to $10,000,000 or $20,000,000 or more. But nothing could be further from the truth. In order to growth hack, or rapidly accelerate the success of your business, you must be willing to take new approaches, create new positions, hire new managers, and even reduce your personal paycheck for a short amount of time. Growing a company takes sacrifice. You will have to delegate tasks you would rather do yourself, hire employees who you might believe unnecessary, and methodically remove yourself from the minutia that once demanded so much of your time. So be prepared. Rapid growth is achievable and it is a helluva ride. But it is also one of the hardest things you will ever do. 2. Understand the Importance of Positive Feedback Many of the leaders that I know come from homes where positive reinforcements were either absent or unnecessary. They were either the student with overbearing parents who burdened them with unachievable expectations, or they were the star football player, straight-A student, and Student Body President who knew they were killing it and didn’t need any reminders. And when you are raised in either of these environments, you find that positive reinforcement and signs of approval and satisfaction are rare. And since positivity was a rare commodity during childhood, these individuals tend to carry this trend with them into the board room. This is when things start to get messy. If you are trying to build a company, you must realize that a company is made up of individuals, many of whom will be like you. However, the vast majority of the people that you hire will come from wildly different backgrounds than your own, with wildly different needs and expectations. And this is great! You want to be surrounded by a diverse group of minds and ideas who can attack challenges and obstacles from angles that you didn’t even know existed. However, when you are unable to tailor your leadership style, particularly your ability to give positive reinforcement to employees, is when you will start to fail as a CEO or president. You might not need positive affirmation, but your employees do. You might thrive on criticism and challenge, but many of your employees don’t. And you need to be aware of this. Learning to positively reinforce underperforming employees is possibly one of the most difficult but rewarding skills that you can master. And the sooner you can do it, the sooner you will elicit massive growth. From your employees, your company, and best of all, yourself. 3. You’re Not That Smart I hate to burst your bubble, but you are not that smart. I don’t care who you are, what degree you have, or how many accolades current adorn your home dresser. You are not that smart… Period. I don’t mean that you have a low IQ or that you aren’t incredibly well versed in your craft, I simply mean that you are not smart enough to handle the vast demands required to grow a company to the 7, 8, or 9 figure range by yourself. You need people in your corner who are smarter and better than you at what they do. Sure, you might be an amazing product engineer, marketer, or leader, but can you set up all of the necessary servers in your IT department? Can you run the HR department by yourself? Can you specifically target your Facebook advertising to maximize your ROI while drastically cutting your budget? If you can, then I want to take my hat off and applaud you… Because you are some sort of superhuman. But if you are like the rest of us, then you will quickly realize that you cannot create massive growth by yourself. You need people who are smarter than you, better than you, and hungrier than you who can meld into your brand and mission and help you accomplish your goals in record time.
How many languages do you speak or understand? Learning a new language helps you appreciate the importance and nuance of language and how it impacts your ability to communicate and connect with others. Leadership and management have their own language which you can learn. This week’s guest, Krister Ungerboeck, is a CEO Coach, and expert in The Language of Leadership. Prior to retiring at age 42, Krister was the award-winning CEO of one of the largest family-owned software companies in the world. His expertise in the Language of Leadership is based upon his unique experience as a global CEO leading teams in three languages while observing and doing business with executives in over 40 countries, building businesses in six and living in three Krister and I talk about the importance of language as a manager, how to use language to engage people, and how positivity can transform productivity. Join the Modern Manager community to get special four tools from Krister including a leadership assessment, plus episode guides and other guest bonuses to support your learning journey! Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and mini-guides delivered to your inbox. Read the related blog article: How Language Can Make You a Better Manager KEY TAKEAWAYS: Leadership or management is all about how you use language. Even when the underlying meaning is consistent, how you say it matters. Choose words that are too strong and you risk alienated people. Choose words that are too soft and you risk not getting the behavior you’re asking for. Power your productivity with positivity by setting metrics that allow each person to compete with themselves rather than each other. Aim for each person to become their personal best. This eliminates room for excuses and allows everyone to be celebrated. Create metrics that can always be increased rather than a percentage so there is always room for improvement. It takes lots of energy to figure out answers, but asking good questions is often easier and leads to better answers. Ask open-ended questions that generally start with ‘what’ or ‘how’ as these will lead to more interesting answers than yes/no questions or questions that are really ideas disguised as questions. To improve your emotional intelligence, try guessing at the emotion the other person may be experiencing and why. What is it they’re needing? Use language like “I’m wondering if you’re frustrated by…because you want more autonomy to make decisions,” or “I’d imagine you’re feeling excluded from…because the team didn’t loop you in at the start of the project.” If your guess is accurate, the person will reinforce it, but if it’s not, they’ll likely correct you. This gives you more accurate information and helps them articulate their situation. KEEP UP WITH KRISTER Website: krister.com Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/theleadershiparchaeologist LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/meetkrister Book: https://www.krister.com/book
How many languages do you speak or understand? Learning a new language helps you appreciate the importance and nuance of language and how it impacts your ability to communicate and connect with others. Leadership and management have their own language which you can learn. This week’s guest, Krister Ungerboeck, is a CEO Coach, and expert in The Language of Leadership. Prior to retiring at age 42, Krister was the award-winning CEO of one of the largest family-owned software companies in the world. His expertise in the Language of Leadership is based upon his unique experience as a global CEO leading teams in three languages while observing and doing business with executives in over 40 countries, building businesses in six and living in three Krister and I talk about the importance of language as a manager, how to use language to engage people, and how positivity can transform productivity. Join the Modern Manager community to get special four tools from Krister including a leadership assessment, plus episode guides and other guest bonuses to support your learning journey! Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and mini-guides delivered to your inbox. Read the related blog article: How Language Can Make You a Better Manager KEY TAKEAWAYS: Leadership or management is all about how you use language. Even when the underlying meaning is consistent, how you say it matters. Choose words that are too strong and you risk alienated people. Choose words that are too soft and you risk not getting the behavior you’re asking for. Power your productivity with positivity by setting metrics that allow each person to compete with themselves rather than each other. Aim for each person to become their personal best. This eliminates room for excuses and allows everyone to be celebrated. Create metrics that can always be increased rather than a percentage so there is always room for improvement. It takes lots of energy to figure out answers, but asking good questions is often easier and leads to better answers. Ask open-ended questions that generally start with ‘what’ or ‘how’ as these will lead to more interesting answers than yes/no questions or questions that are really ideas disguised as questions. To improve your emotional intelligence, try guessing at the emotion the other person may be experiencing and why. What is it they’re needing? Use language like “I’m wondering if you’re frustrated by…because you want more autonomy to make decisions,” or “I’d imagine you’re feeling excluded from…because the team didn’t loop you in at the start of the project.”
Krister Ungerböck, employee engagement and global business growth expert, shares insights from his research on the language of leadership. Learn how to change the way you listen and respond to your team to increase employee engagement, and become a more effective leader.
Krister Ungerboeck is a keynote speaker, CEO Coach, and global expert in The Language of Leadership. Prior to retiring at age 42, he was the award-winning CEO of one of the largest family-owned software companies in the world. His expertise in the Language of Leadership is based upon his unique experience as a global CEO leading teams in three languages while observing and doing business with executives in over 40 countries, building businesses in six and living in three. Quotes To Remember: "It starts with the leader." "Frustration is a form of anger." "Emotional intelligence is a key element." "Anger is an alarm bell." "Speak to more people with empathy." What You'll Learn: Becoming a leader Harnessing emotional intelligence Building the EI of your team Better communication skills Getting into the creative flow Key Links From The Episode: Krister's site Magic Management 8 Ball Challenge Recommended Books: Content Marketing Secrets by Marc Guberti Podcast Domination by Marc Guberti Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg Leadership Language by Chris Westfall Quiet Leadership by David Rock
Krister Ungerboeck works with high-potential leaders to help them learn the practical language of leadership because he knows, from his own experience as a CEO, that language has the power to transform their lives. As the award-winning CEO of a 3,000% growth tech company, Krister created The Language of Leadership to help leaders master the high-stakes conversations that can either make or break their careers. During his time leading Ungerboeck Software, Krister did business in 40 countries, built businesses in six, and lived in three. He also learned to speak French and German as an adult, which gives him a unique perspective on communication. On stage, Krister is a keynote speaker, but when he works one-on-one with CEOs and their highest potential executives, he's more like a speech writer. His upcoming book, The Language of Leadership: Words to Transform How We Lead, Live, and Love, provides a practical, fill-in-the-blanks approach to learning a powerful new language of leadership, one that is is guaranteed to help leaders speak in a more impactful, emotionally intelligent way. This level of expertise will help them maximize employee engagement, productivity, and employee retention. What you'll learn about in this episode: How Krister joined the business world through his family's small business and what lessons he learned during his time there How Krister learned the “language of emotional intelligence” and springboarded into a new career path Why changing your language style is an effective way of changing yourself from the outside in How the “language of management” and the “language of leadership” differ, and why the difference matters Why one of the most difficult parts of being a CEO is the business outgrowing leaders How to use “empathy guesses” and a fill-in-the-blanks approach to emotional intelligence Why Krister's self-awareness of language has been transformative in all of his relationships How the feeling of being trapped in an executive role can lead to extreme stress and even PTSD Why Krister works to help business leaders grow their leadership, and how the skills he teaches can help in all aspects of your life How your company culture can help encourage happy people to stay and unhappy people to leave How to contact Krister Ungerboeck: Website: www.krister.com Website: www.krister.com/otherside/
Krister Ungerboeck is a keynote speaker, CEO Coach, and global expert in The Language of Leadership. Prior to retiring at age 42, Krister was the award-winning CEO of one of the largest family-owned software companies in the world. His expertise in the Language of Leadership is based upon his unique experience as a global CEO leading teams in three languages while observing and doing business with executives in over 40 countries, building businesses in six and living in three. As a corporate keynote speaker, Krister is passionate about sharing the secrets that his team used to win 5 consecutive Top Workplace awards and achieve remarkable employee engagement levels of 99.3%. His upcoming book, The Language of Leadership: Words to Transform How We Lead, Live and Love, will be published in spring 2019.
Being in a position of leadership can often make you feel like you’ve hit rock bottom, but it’s always possible to dig deeper. Krister Ungerboeck identifies as the world’s first “leadership archaeologist”, and shares the ideas from his book, “The Leadership Archaeologist: Tools To Unearth Unseen Potential”.
Being in a position of leadership can often make you feel like you’ve hit rock bottom, but it’s always possible to dig deeper. Krister Ungerboeck identifies as the world’s first “leadership archaeologist”, and shares the ideas from his book, “The Leadership Archaeologist: Tools To Unearth Unseen Potential”.
Krister Ungerboeck Your Words Can Create a Highly Engaged Team The words you choose are having a significant impact on the people you lead. Are you choosing words that will inspire others to follow you? Struggling leaders should examine their words, assess where they come from and how they may be putting a damper on the people who follow them. Just like everyone else, leaders default to the words of those who influenced them from a young age. The words we speak to others are often an echo of the words we are speaking to ourselves, and those words were initiated by our original leaders. When we grow up hearing negative words, we often speak negative words ourselves. Examine your words, determine where they come from and how you can select words that will inspire those around you. Become the leader whose words transform others to want to follow you. Learn more about Krister Ungerboeck and his newest book, The Language of Leadership: Words to Transform How you Lead, Live and Love, to be out in Spring 2019, by clicking here. Click here to check out our newest leadership development tool – LEAD – Leadership Education and Development Steve Caldwell is an executive mentor and coach to managers and leaders who desire to excel in their career and become the leader others want to follow. Steve is a leadership expert, host of the Manager Mojo podcast and author of the book Manager Mojo – Be the Leader Others Want to Follow. (www.ManagerMojo.com) Steve also coaches his followers not only on how to become great leaders, but how to effectively coach and lead their employees to find satisfaction and fulfillment from their jobs and life. Having started his work career at the savvy age of 13, Steve is also currently CEO of Predictive People Analytics based in San Francisco, CA, a firm specializing in helping leaders increase sales, reduce turnover, and attract key talent. (www.PredictivePeopleAnalytics.com)
Growing up, I loved the Indiana Jones movies. Yes, they were packed with action and a great story line but what really intrigued me was that Mr. Jones was an archaeologist. He did it all in the name of science...well, ok, maybe that is a stretch (but I still loved the movies). My guest this week is the world's only Leadership Archaeologist, Krister Ungerboeck. He's originally a mid-western boy (like me) but has been all over the world and, in this episode, he shares the insights he's found through his travels (and experience) on leadership. I know you'll like this episode. Krister is very smart, very insightful and he gave me tons to think about (and I know he will you too). ENJOY! More on Krister... Krister Ungerboeck is the world’s first Leadership Archaeologist™. He travels the world to unearth the most powerful – and often surprising – models, ideas, and secrets of leadership. Previously, Krister was the award-winning CEO of a 3,000% growth tech company. During his time leading Ungerboeck Software, he did business in 40 countries, built businesses in six, and lived in three. He also learned to speak French and German as an adult, which gives him a unique perspective on communication. Then, over the past few years, he became a prominent CEO coach and highly desired keynote speaker… but a very different kind than one might expect. In a sea of speakers spouting clichéd success secrets, Krister stands out as a successful CEO who bravely shares breathtakingly real stories of his own setbacks, combined with concrete, immediately actionable steps for audiences to sidestep the mistakes he’s made. For the past decade, Krister has been on a “seeking secrets” journey, mining the minds of some of the greatest thinkers around the world and across disciplines, digging in dark places where others don’t… all to unearth unseen insights into the question of why growth companies tend to outgrow their leaders so quickly. In addition to exploring the globe for new leadership insights and ideas, Krister is a top-rated leadership keynote speaker, CEO coach and consultant, and author of the highly acclaimed book, SEEKING CEO SECRETS: The Leadership Archaeologist's 12 Tools to Unearth Unseen Potential. Check him out on his website: https://www.krister.com/
Good leaders teach others how to become leaders themselves. As we grow our team, why is it important to stop giving answers and start helping others find solutions on their own? How can we attract experts to our company? Why should we strive to become better communicators? In this episode, Krister Ungerboeck talks about the most common leadership mistakes and what we can do to lead others to success. Managers can be managed, but executives can only be led. -Krister Ungerboeck For the Resources mentioned by Krister in this conversation, go to https://krister.com/aerospace Takeaways + Tactics There is a big difference between leading small teams and larger ones. Good leaders teach others to ask the right questions… and find their own conclusions. The biggest enemy of entrepreneurs is ego. It's okay to hire smarter. Empathy and high emotional intelligence are crucial qualities that good leaders develop. At the beginning of the episode, we talked about how small teams are managed differently than big teams. Next, we talked about why it's important to accept the fact that there are people who are better than us and more qualified to hold certain positions in our company. We also covered: Why a big monetary compensation isn't enough and what else we can offer to high achievers Why being a lone wolf in the world of entrepreneurship can cost you a lot of learning opportunities How we can learn to communicate better with our team and the role empathy plays in doing so Resources For more aerospace industry news & commentary: http://northstaresg.com/ To learn more about Craig Picken and the NorthStar Group, visit http://northstaresg.com/ We can't become better leaders and grow our business if we don't learn to communicate more effectively. A crucial element in emotional intelligence is having empathy— the ability to put ourselves in somebody else's shoes even when we have nothing in common. Setting aside time for empathy exercises is crucial for leaders like us, as we have to connect, communicate and lead people on a daily basis. Guest Bio Krister Ungerboeck, The Leadership Archeologist, is a global leadership expert, award-winning CEO, coach, speaker and author. As the world's first Leadership Archaeologist, Krister is a seeker of secrets. He's a perspective-changing explorer who ventures beyond the edge of the comfort zone of most leaders and brings back tales of what he's learned. He experiments with unique, sometimes outlandish approaches to building leadership skills in order to save leaders the time, money, and (possibly) embarrassment of experimenting on themselves. Go to https://krister.com/aerospace for a free Leadership Assessment and more!
In these times of unprecedented change, the leadership needs of companies evolve just as the needs and wants of consumers do. The ideal leader for one leg of the journey may be ill equipped to tackle the next chapter. In hyper-growth organizations, how do we ensure our companies don’t outgrow our leaders? In this revealing […]